Media Statement: “Good Wives”: Women Land Campaigners and the Impact of Human Rights Activism

Media Statement: “Good Wives”: Women Land Campaigners and the Impact of Human Rights Activism

LICADHO

November 23, 2014 - During the last decade tens of thousands of Cambodians have been forcibly removed from their homes or their farmland and many more threatened with displacement. Since 2000, LICADHO has collected data which shows that over half a million people have been affected by land conflicts in which the state is involved. In response, many affected communities have organized themselves to resist eviction or to seek proper redress for what they have lost. Cambodian women have been at the forefront of these campaigns with many becoming effective community leaders and human rights advocates.

To mark the start of the global campaign, 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence, LICADHO has published a report exploring how the lives of women campaigners are changed by their activism. It reveals the high price women pay, suffering not only serious economic and emotional impacts but also often domestic violence and family breakdown.

The report is based on interviews with 24 women land campaigners. Half of the women interviewed for the report were from rural communities and half from Phnom Penh. They had all been involved in campaigning for several years and seven of them were extremely active and now work almost full-time as campaigners. Some of them had spent time in prison. The experiences of the women were similar, with all describing difficult changes in their relationships with their husbands which led to tension and in some cases violence. Five out of 24 women interviewed experienced domestic violence after becoming campaigners having not experienced it before and a further six women, who had experienced domestic violence before their land disputes began, said that the violence had become worse since the conflicts began.

According to the women interviewed, the relationship between land disputes and the tension and violence they experienced arose from their activism, which took them out of the more traditional stay-at-home, obedient role that is expected of Cambodian women and into the public sphere. Their husbands complained that they no longer prepared food for them and their children, were suspicious of them because of the amount of time they spent away from home and were unhappy about the increased independence of their decision-making.

LICADHO Director Naly Pilorge said “We know that being an activist in Cambodia is high risk. We’ve seen in the last two weeks that campaigners face not only violence from the authorities but also imprisonment. And now this report shows that campaigning affects home life too. The fact that some men cannot accept their wives’ new roles and resort to violence is particularly troubling.”

Only one of the women interviewed had approached the police for help. The rest of the women either did nothing, and so remained in violent relationships, or came to an informal agreement to separate. The women gave a number of reasons for not taking action including social and economic pressures to remain married and in rural areas physical distance from the police station. Those activists with a particularly high profile said that they feared that if the authorities found out about the domestic violence they would not only refuse to help them but would use the information to discredit them. One of them said that her local police often follow her and monitor what she does so she would never reveal information to them about her family life and has no faith that they would help her. One other woman, who experienced serious violence in the family, said that she did eventually ask the police for help but they told her it was an internal family matter and took no action to help her.

“The findings of this study make depressing reading. The fact that these campaigners feel that they cannot go to the police when they are experiencing violence because they are worried it will be used against them shows that the authorities are really failing them. The police should help all women experiencing domestic violence whoever they are” said Nap Somaly, LICADHO’s Senior Women’s and Children’s Rights Monitor.

Violence against women and land grabbing are two of the most serious and widespread human rights abuses in Cambodia. For many of the women in this study the two issues intersect and their lives are marred by conflict in both the public realm and in the home. The report draws attention to this double burden and calls for the Cambodian government to make substantive changes on both issues. It makes the following recommendations:

- Ensure police investigate all cases of domestic violence fully and properly regardless of the identity of the victim and that local authorities, police and court staff act independently and in the interests of justice to protect all victims of domestic violence.

- Provide extra funding to police, especially in rural areas, for the investigation and prosecution of cases of domestic violence.

- Ensure that local authorities, police and court staff recognise that domestic violence is not a private matter or minor offence and that they understand the importance of holding perpetrators of domestic violence to account for their actions.

- Increase the number of refuges and social services for victims of domestic violence and develop provision of vocational training programmes.

- Put an end to the use of violence against land campaigners and all peaceful protesters.

Put a genuine end to forced evictions and provide fair and adequate compensation to those who have already been forcibly displaced or had their land unlawfully confiscated.

- Carry out a transparent and publicly disclosed land demarcation and classification process as soon as possible and ensure that any future land titling program operates under the authority of a relevant state institution.

As well as releasing the report, on November 25 and 26 at 2.10 pm, LICADHO will be broadcasting two live shows on WMC radio 102 MHz featuring discussions with four of the activists interviewed for the report. The programmes will be repeated throughout the 16 day campaign. At 7.30 pm on November 25, RFA will hold a roundtable discussion on the issues raised by the report featuring LICADHO President Dr Pung Chhiv Kek and two land activists.

For more information, please contact:

▪ Ms Naly Pilorge, LICADHO Director, 012 803 650

▪ Ms Nap Somaly, LICADHO Senior Women’s and Children’s Rights Monitor, 012 251 118